A peek inside GLOWW: When we met Beauty Passionista!

January sees the launch of our first ever issue of GLOWW! Our new in-box magazine packed full of useful advice, products and reveals, exclusively for our members! We’re so excited!

Seeing as this month we share the ‘Best of British’, it only seemed right to ask award winning British blogger Ambarina of the fab blogBeauty Passionista to share some of her top tips and secrets for the new year in GLOWW!

Read below for a sneak peek of what happened as we talked beauty, health and plans for 2015 with Ambarina…

Happy New Year! What were your highlights from 2014?

Thank you! 2014 was a rollercoaster year, with many highs, but I guess the main one for Beauty Passionista would be winning Blogger of the Year in the national Mum & Working Awards. After having been shortlisted for the Marie Claire Blogger of the Year Award previously, it was lovely to win an award! 2014 was also the year that I really got my YouTube channel going which was very exciting for me too!

Congratulations on the success of your Beauty Passionista blog and youtube channel! What made you want to enter the world of blogging?

I’ve been writing about beauty and style for many years; past & present roles have included London Editor for HELLO! Pakistan, Lifestyle Editor at BBC Asian Network, Beauty & Health Editor at Asian Woman and Asian Bride Magazines, Beauty Editor at Khaleejesque and Beauty Editor at India Today, but there were always many extra features and articles that I wanted to write and a blog seemed the perfect way to do it. It’s also a great way to talk directly to my readers, in my own voice, not the voice of the publication that I’m writing for.

Most people overindulged over the Christmas party season. Are there any fitness goals you would like to achieve this year?

I’m a bit of a gym bunny anyway! Last year’s goals were to lose body fat percentage (not necessarily weight on the scales) and to be able to do chin-ups – both of which I achieved! This year’s goals are to continue on that path, increase strength, flexibility and agility. I’m also really getting into crossfit and calisthenics too, which is great fun and a real full-body work out.

As we go back to work, and our lives return to normality after the party season, we all look for the easy option when it comes to food! Have you got a favourite, simple and healthy recipe that you can share with us?

One of my other health and fitness goals is to eat as clean as possible, so I’m totally loving Quinoa – it’s a great superfood and is so easy to make. My go-to recipe is to cook the Quinoa as directed on the packet (it literally takes ten minutes or so) and make it into a salad, adding in chopped tomatoes, spring onions, fresh coriander, green chillies (I like my food spicy!), olive oil, lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste. I promise you, once you’ve made this once, you’ll want to eat it everyday!